Thursday Morning Coffee: The five things you need to know this morning.

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers. We're a little pressed for time this morning, a circumstance we can only attribute to the epic confluence of not enough sleep and an epic caffeine deficit. So while we try to right the karmic scales, why don't you enjoy this handcrafted countdown of the Top Five Stories making news on this 2nd day of August 2012?

1. The Voter ID hearing wraps up in Commonwealth Court this morning with plaintiffs and the state offering their closing arguments to Judge Robert E. Simpson.

Lorraine Minnite, a voter fraud expert from Rutgers University, spent nearly two hours on the stand yesterday, where she testified that the risks of in-person voter fraud outweigh the benefits and such cases are "exceedingly rare" in Pennsyvlania, our friends at Capitolwire report this morning.

2. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may be nearly impossible to escape in the headlines, but TV commercials paid for his campaign are nowhere to be found this summer in Pennsylvania, your humble blogger reports in a story published in The Grown-Up Paper this morning. The former Massachusetts governor hasn't bought so much as a second of statewide television airtime since the end of April. And even the GOP-friendly super PACs that have – unofficially -- aided Romney have scaled back their presence in the state during the warmer months. As a consequence, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has also cut its overall airtime spending in Pennsylvania this summer, according to an inspection of purchase contracts filed with four central Pennsylvania television stations and an analysis by the National Journal, a Washington-insider publication.

3. Gov. Tom Corbett'sapproval numbers improved a tad in yesterday's Quinnipiac University poll, the Patriot-News notes this morning. Forty-five percent of respondents disapproved of the Guv's job performance, compared to 38 percent who disapproved. That's a slight nudge over the 36 percent who approved in a poll released last month -- an all-time low for the Republican. The P-N analysis suggests that Corbett's ongoing austerity measures still haven't endeared him to voters. In case you haven't seen it, here's the full polling memo:

4. This one's from outside the Capitol, but might be of interest to lawmakers thinking about pursuing their own appeals -- and it's not like there's a shortage of them. York County's President Judge, Stephen Linebaugh, ruled Wednesday that York City Councilman Michael Helfrich can keep his post despite his felony convictions, the York Daily Record reports this morning.Helfrich, who pleaded guilty to two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver in 1991, was elected to council in November. Attorneys for York Mayor Kim Bracey argued that Helfrich's conviction should bar him from serving. The state constitution bars those convicted of "infamous crimes" from serving in public office, and state courts have ruled several times that infamous crimes include felonies and crimes of deception. But according to Linebaugh's decision, those cases were based on the understanding that those offenses involved "falsehood" or "affecting the public administration of justice." Drug crimes don't meet that standard, the YDR reported.

5. Pennsylvania collected $1.8 billion in general fund revenue in July, the first full month of the 2012-13 fiscal year, the state Revenue Department said yesterday. ales tax receipts totaled $800.5 million; personal income tax (PIT) revenue in July was $692.6 million; and corporation tax revenue was $110 million for July. General Fund revenue figures for July included $68.1 million in inheritance tax and $33.3 million in realty transfer tax, the agency said. In case you're wondering, data on anticipated revenues was not included because those projections are not complete yet, the Revenue Department said.

What Goes On.U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., holds a reporters-only, 11:30 a.m. conference call this morning to discuss some of the options open to Pennsylvanians who believe they may have been wrongfully foreclosed upon. The federal foreclosure review process ends on Sept. 30.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning. Here's one that popped up on Spotify on our way into work this morning. It's English soul diva Adele and a live version of "Rumour Has It" from the iTunes festival.

Thursday's Gratuitous Baseball Link. The Yankees roared back to positively clobber the visiting Baltimore Orioles last night, notching a 12-3 victory, that featured a seven-run third inning and a grand slam from Robinson Cano.

All right. That's it for now. We'll be back throughout the day with updates from the Voter ID hearing. See you all in a bit.